Need a knockout (but easy) dessert recipe!

[skater]

No, no, no to boxed red velvet cake. I'm not above a mix for many things but my grandma makes the BEST red velvet cake ever. I also found out she uses the same recipe as the Waldorf Astoria hotel Here it is and it's not easy, it's time consuming but OH SO GOOD!!


Original Red Velvet Cake

1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon butter extract
1 1/2 ounces red food coloring
3 tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour (carefully spoon and level — don’t pack flour)
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon vinegar

Frosting
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)
1 cup milk
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray three 9-inch round cake pans with flour-added cooking spray. For a higher ratio of cake to frosting, use two 9-inch pans. You may also use three 8-inch pans. If you use three 8-inch or go with two 9-inch, you will probably need to tack on about 4 minutes to the cook time due to the batter being deeper.

Using high speed of electric mixer, beat shortening and sugar until creamy. Beat in eggs, vanilla extract and butter extract, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Make a paste of red food coloring and cocoa powder, then stir that in. Or, do what I did and stir the red food coloring and cocoa in, then beat. When the batter turns red, stir in the salt and beat so that it’s very well mixed. Starting and ending with flour, add the flour and buttermilk alternately to batter, stirring so that flour gets absorbed.

Place the baking soda in a little cup. Add the vinegar to the baking soda, then stir the fizzy vinegar mixture into the cake batter to lighten it.

Now, dump the cake batter into the pans, dividing evenly.

Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs. Let cakes cool in pans on a rack for 10 minutes. Flip out of pans and cool completely. Note: If your oven runs hot, cook the red velvet cake at 325 degrees F. The cakes will turn out dry if over-cooked.

Make the frosting. In a heavy saucepan, whisk together 3 tablespoons of flour and 1/4 cup of the milk until smooth. Whisk in salt and remaining milk. Turn heat to medium and cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is thick and creamy. Let it cool completely.

Using your electric mixer, beat butter and granulated sugar until fluffy. Beat in the vanilla. Beat in the thoroughly cooled flour mixture. Beat and beat until the icing is fluffy and no longer grainy (this may take a while, depending on how good your mixer is). For this recipe, I recommend using a stand mixer.

Cover cake with frosting.

This sounds like the real red velvet cake recipe (at least the one I'm used to ). I just don't enjoy the cream cheese frosting on red velvet cake. Thanks for posting this - I've been looking for it.

 

[mamajoan]

No, no, no to boxed red velvet cake. I'm not above a mix for many things but my grandma makes the BEST red velvet cake ever. I also found out she uses the same recipe as the Waldorf Astoria hotel Here it is and it's not easy, it's time consuming but OH SO GOOD!!


Original Red Velvet Cake

1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon butter extract
1 1/2 ounces red food coloring
3 tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour (carefully spoon and level — don’t pack flour)
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon vinegar

Frosting
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)
1 cup milk
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray three 9-inch round cake pans with flour-added cooking spray. For a higher ratio of cake to frosting, use two 9-inch pans. You may also use three 8-inch pans. If you use three 8-inch or go with two 9-inch, you will probably need to tack on about 4 minutes to the cook time due to the batter being deeper.

Using high speed of electric mixer, beat shortening and sugar until creamy. Beat in eggs, vanilla extract and butter extract, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Make a paste of red food coloring and cocoa powder, then stir that in. Or, do what I did and stir the red food coloring and cocoa in, then beat. When the batter turns red, stir in the salt and beat so that it’s very well mixed. Starting and ending with flour, add the flour and buttermilk alternately to batter, stirring so that flour gets absorbed.

Place the baking soda in a little cup. Add the vinegar to the baking soda, then stir the fizzy vinegar mixture into the cake batter to lighten it.

Now, dump the cake batter into the pans, dividing evenly.

Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs. Let cakes cool in pans on a rack for 10 minutes. Flip out of pans and cool completely. Note: If your oven runs hot, cook the red velvet cake at 325 degrees F. The cakes will turn out dry if over-cooked.

Make the frosting. In a heavy saucepan, whisk together 3 tablespoons of flour and 1/4 cup of the milk until smooth. Whisk in salt and remaining milk. Turn heat to medium and cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is thick and creamy. Let it cool completely.

Using your electric mixer, beat butter and granulated sugar until fluffy. Beat in the vanilla. Beat in the thoroughly cooled flour mixture. Beat and beat until the icing is fluffy and no longer grainy (this may take a while, depending on how good your mixer is). For this recipe, I recommend using a stand mixer.

Cover cake with frosting.

THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!! This is how my mom made red velvet cake and frosting... no, no no to Cream Cheese Frosting on Red Velvet!!!!

 

[lizabu]

No, no, no to boxed red velvet cake. I'm not above a mix for many things but my grandma makes the BEST red velvet cake ever. I also found out she uses the same recipe as the Waldorf Astoria hotel Here it is and it's not easy, it's time consuming but OH SO GOOD!!


Original Red Velvet Cake

1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon butter extract
1 1/2 ounces red food coloring
3 tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour (carefully spoon and level — don’t pack flour)
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon vinegar

Frosting
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)
1 cup milk
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray three 9-inch round cake pans with flour-added cooking spray. For a higher ratio of cake to frosting, use two 9-inch pans. You may also use three 8-inch pans. If you use three 8-inch or go with two 9-inch, you will probably need to tack on about 4 minutes to the cook time due to the batter being deeper.

Using high speed of electric mixer, beat shortening and sugar until creamy. Beat in eggs, vanilla extract and butter extract, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Make a paste of red food coloring and cocoa powder, then stir that in. Or, do what I did and stir the red food coloring and cocoa in, then beat. When the batter turns red, stir in the salt and beat so that it’s very well mixed. Starting and ending with flour, add the flour and buttermilk alternately to batter, stirring so that flour gets absorbed.

Place the baking soda in a little cup. Add the vinegar to the baking soda, then stir the fizzy vinegar mixture into the cake batter to lighten it.

Now, dump the cake batter into the pans, dividing evenly.

Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs. Let cakes cool in pans on a rack for 10 minutes. Flip out of pans and cool completely. Note: If your oven runs hot, cook the red velvet cake at 325 degrees F. The cakes will turn out dry if over-cooked.

Make the frosting. In a heavy saucepan, whisk together 3 tablespoons of flour and 1/4 cup of the milk until smooth. Whisk in salt and remaining milk. Turn heat to medium and cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is thick and creamy. Let it cool completely.

Using your electric mixer, beat butter and granulated sugar until fluffy. Beat in the vanilla. Beat in the thoroughly cooled flour mixture. Beat and beat until the icing is fluffy and no longer grainy (this may take a while, depending on how good your mixer is). For this recipe, I recommend using a stand mixer.

Cover cake with frosting.

Oooh...a real handed down from Grandma recipe. Those are the best kinds. I made the Red Velvet on joyofbaking.com and the icing was a miserable failure. I have to make this cake. It sounds fantastic. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Robinrs]

This is seriously amazing. I made this last year for Christmas and people couldn't stop talking about it! And while you can make the cakes from scratch if you had the time, I just used a red velvet mix and a white mix. Add 1 tsp peppermint flavor to the white mix. Alternate spoonfuls of each color in your cake pan, and it turns out like the picture. Also add peppermint to the cream cheese icing. You can garnish with crushed peppermint if you like. It was SO easy, but tastes wonderful, like you baked all day.

That is just beautiful!

 

[Cindy B]

THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!! This is how my mom made red velvet cake and frosting... no, no no to Cream Cheese Frosting on Red Velvet!!!!

So what does this frosting look like? It is like a drippy glaze or a real spreadable frosting?

 

[Bluestars]

It was SO easy, but tastes wonderful, like you baked all day.

This looks absolutely delicious! I'll have to give this a try sometime.

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

You're welcome

It comes out as a real frosting. It's not as thick as a cream cheese spread but it covers the cake. My grandma would always take this to potlucks and of course, we couldn't have some beforehand. So, if you wanted some, you had to hang out by the dessert table to get it before it was gone.

My DH asked only one thing at our wedding and that was for this to be our wedding cake.

 

[donaldbuzz&minnie]

I like to make an angel food cake (from a mix), then frost it with chocolate/mint whipped cream. (Just whip heavy cream with xxx sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder to taste, and a little peppermint and vanilla extracts.) Then decorate it if you wish. (Even just shaved chocolate over the top dresses it up, but anything works.)

Make it earlier in the day, and refrigerate. The whipped cream takes on a really wonderful texture and the cake is light and satisfying at the same time. Not to mention super-easy.

When I want to make this even easier, I've just cut plain angel food cake into slices, then put out bowls of peppermint/chocolate whipped cream, regular whipped cream, thawed frozen raspberries (and sometimes vanilla ice cream). People seem to really enjoy making their dessert to suit their own taste. If you need to plan on serving 20 people, I'd probably make 2 -3 cakes and whip up a lot of cream!

 

[stargazer2892]

My Nana's pound cake. Always a show stopper but super easy and customizable.
1 box cake mix
2 boxes pudding
4 eggs
1 cup liquid
1/2 cup oil.

Mix, it will be super thick. Bake at 350 for 50-60 min.

For xmas I like Devils food cake, with chocolate pudding, add a teaspoon of peppermint to the liquid, which I use 1/2 cup espresso and 1/2 cup milk. Sprinkle crushed up candy canes or the red and white Andes mint baking chips, and a little powdered sugar dusted on top. I have one in the oven right now and it took maybe 5 minutes to mix up.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I'm not a real fan of box cakes.. but that is something to think about.

I'm not all that big a fan either. But I figured because the thread said easy, that fit the definition of easy. And believe it or not it is extremely difficult to obtain cake flour in some areas.

 

[Tuffcookie]

Ok.... how about buy some:

brownies
peppermint schnaps
cool whip
red and white mints (like you get in restaurants)
chocolate syrup

Soak the brownies in a little peppermint schnaps, then layer a nice bowl with the brownies, some chocolate syrup cool whip and the mints (smack them with a rolling pin first so they are chunked up) and repeat. You can call it a.... Mint Hot Chocolate.


Or do this - Super easy, and its a croud pleaser!

Make some brownies in a shallow pan. Take a 1.5 inch biscuit cutter and cut out circles. Then, whip up some creamcheese frosting (1 packet cream cheese, 1 stick unsalted butter, 2 cups powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla). Pipe some of the frosting on the top of the brownie. Cut the top off a strawberry and put it on there. Then put a little cream cheese frosting ball on top, and you have Santa Hats!

DisneySarah80,

Thank you for this!

I'm having a small dinner party tonight and I made these last night. They are very cute and sure to impress!

TC

 

[Cindy B]

I made this cake this afternoon--including the homemade icing recipe. I made it in a 9x13 pan so it took a little longer to make.. That icing is wonderful!

 

[tlbwriter]

Eggnog pound cake

Found the recipe on Pinterest and made this last week for a party and people loved it. It tastes great and its easy to make. Yes it does use a box mix but you are punching it up so i don't think anyone could tell the difference. You can also do it as cupcakes and there is a recipe for cream cheese icing with the cupcake recipe.


http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/eggnog-pound-cake-10000001940931/

I made this last night but I decided it needed to be a rum eggnog cake so I added a couple of tablespoons of rum to the batter, and then after it cooled I glazed it with the same glaze I use on rum cake (google "bacardi rum cake" for the recipe). It was yummy, but I guess the pound cake is more dense than my usual rum cake, because the glaze didn't soak through. I'll use a thinner version next time. Fast, easy, and tasty!

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

I made this cake this afternoon--including the homemade icing recipe. I made it in a 9x13 pan so it took a little longer to make.. That icing is wonderful!

the red velvet cake? Isn't it great?

 

[DisneySarah80]

My Nana's pound cake. Always a show stopper but super easy and customizable.
1 box cake mix
2 boxes pudding
4 eggs
1 cup liquid1/2 cup oil.

Mix, it will be super thick. Bake at 350 for 50-60 min.

For xmas I like Devils food cake, with chocolate pudding, add a teaspoon of peppermint to the liquid, which I use 1/2 cup espresso and 1/2 cup milk. Sprinkle crushed up candy canes or the red and white Andes mint baking chips, and a little powdered sugar dusted on top. I have one in the oven right now and it took maybe 5 minutes to mix up.

I can think of a lot of different liquids.... Can you specify???

 

[honeydiane1953]

Used to help with a caterer and anything in a trifle dish is impressive. Go to allrecipes.com or foodnetwork.com and look them up. CHIC is the word!

 

[mamajoan]

So what does this frosting look like? It is like a drippy glaze or a real spreadable frosting?

The frosting is white, fluffy, very rich tasting to me... it is a smooth, thick frosting when nice and cool.


ohhh I see you made the cake and frosting... tasty stuff!

My mom made this cake for my 14th birthday many, many.... many years ago. She made a four layer cake. Now my mom was not much of a baker but she did this just for me. When I went away to college she would try to bake the cake with that great frosting when I would come home for winter break.

So when I saw this recipe... it made me very misty. I hope all the guests enjoy it!

 

[Cindy B]

the red velvet cake? Isn't it great?

I'm not sure why the picture didn't come out.. .but it was the red velvet/white one. I didn't have peppermint extract (store was all out) so I used some peppermint schnapps instead.

That homemade buttercream icing was labor intensive.. but oh so good.

It was too much batter for on 9x13 so I wound up pouring the excess into one 8 inch pan.. that way we could "test" the cake. It was so good!

 

[disneyred]

yum.. i need to start taking down some of these recipes ! thanks .

 

[tlbwriter]

I can think of a lot of different liquids.... Can you specify???

I thought the point was that you could choose a liquid to customize the recipe (for example, she said she used 1/2 cup espresso and 1/2 cup milk for one variation).